Mathematics Week One Round Up
10:06 AM
This week in mathematics, we started the class playing a card game.
Our teacher had a student cut a deck of cards in half, and then again two more times so there were four equal piles. In each pile she had the student take three cards from the top and place them at the bottom of the deck. Next, she had the student take three more cards from the same pile and place one card on each of the 3 remaining piles that weren't touched yet.
This same process happened for the 3 remaining piles of cards. When finished, our teacher lifted up the top card from each pile revealing that each pile had the same card on top!
Crazy right!?
Giphy
After being placed in groups, we had a chance to try this card trick. During the process of trying to figure out how she did it, our teacher made a comment stating that it was "easy". Many of us overlooked this comment which in the end taught us an important lesson on we should be speaking to our students in a mathematics class.
As we were figuring out the card trick, I personally found myself getting frustrated when other groups were figuring out the process faster than I was. This got me thinking of when I have the opportunity to teach my own class and the negative impact a student would have if I told them something was "easy" when in reality it might not be for them.
This lesson helped me understand that as an educator, I need to choose my words carefully especially with children and the concept of mathematics. When students come to me with a math question or concern, I need to remember not to say "oh, this is easy", but instead focus the conversation towards " I see how this is difficult, lets work through it together and come to an understanding of this problem."
The Power of 'Yet'
We also played a game called: A game about squares that you can find by clicking this link.
This game had no instructions so you had to use trial and error to move onto the next level. The ability to visualize your steps in the game also really helped because it took out the guessing game that could really frustrate students and stop them from moving forward and continuing the game. The ability to make mistakes is accepted in this game and not feared, which is a key factor when introducing anything new to students.
We also watched some videos regarding math mindsets and I found myself gravitating towards one in particular that you can watch here:
Giphy
Until next week! :)
5 comments
Hi Ally! Great post, I really enjoyed reading it and felt I could relate in many areas. I also discussed the power of yet as a key point. I found that to be a “ah-ha” moment and realized the importance of every word I use. I never thought of the phrase “that’s simple” or “that’s easy” to have negative consequences but after that experiment, I plan to be more cautious in my choice of words. After the module, I also felt I had been looking at math wrong and I completely agree that this will change my outlook in how I instruct my future students. Interesting about your elementary school, I had a similar experience and it’s true it does impact a student’s confidence, or experiencing the feeling of not being good enough. I hope we can bridge that feeling for students in the future! Cheers, Raychel.
ReplyDeleteHey Ally,
ReplyDeleteFirst off your blog looks really professional, well done. Like you and many others in the class I too overlooked the comment made that the card trick was “easy”. Although I managed to solve the trick fairly fast there still was confusion amongst the class that you could tell was frustrating people. The simple addition of the word “easy” to a minds on can have a great effect on a student’s learning and I appreciating you sharing your thoughts on this. I completely forgot that we played that game about squares, thanks for the reminder! I really enjoyed how the game ran and that it was all about sequencing. I agree that the ability to make mistakes in the game made it more fun and allowed you to progress further.
Thanks for sharing,
James Webster
Hey Ally,
ReplyDeleteGreat job on your blog as it looks beautiful and very professional. After reading your post I can relate to many of the statements and beliefs that you have towards math and have held over your previous years as a student. I loved that you pulled out from the video the important points that teachers need to create a positive relationship with the subject instead of the dry version that most of us have been presented with. I think that by having this goal for our future classrooms this will allow our students to be able to have positive relationships with math instead of the negative ones that it seems that so many of us have experienced.
Here's to hopefully being able to wipe away students anxieties and stressors towards math!
Thanks for your great post,
Rachel Dunne
Hi Ally,
ReplyDeleteWow! I can't believe how effective your blog post is. I could feel how personal it was throughout reading it. I really enjoyed that the first thing I saw when I opened your blog was the photo with "The power of yet" because I believe that is very fitting in all math situations, just because you don't understand something now, doesn't mean you never will!
I also come from a similar background to yours with negative math experiences, my dislike for math started at a young age and was never changed, I like that you highlighted that we are all born with the ability to do well in math. This statement resonated with me and is something I will take to placement with me.
Great post!
Impressing! Keep your good work up Ally...
ReplyDelete